Scalable ammonia/hydrogen marine internal combustion engine architecture

绿色航运革命被认为是海洋产业的一个必要和巨大的变化。这种对传统船舶动力方法进行根本性改变的驱动力正确地集中在减少排放和提高效率上。然而，两个世纪以来，基于化石燃料的船舶动力在安全性、可靠性和基础设施方面取得了巨大进步，这些都必须转化为绿色动力。该项目将进行可行性研究，为2024年将氨部分裂解成（1.0MW）内燃机（ICE）的快节奏物理演示提供基础，并在2025年之前提供海上原型。该系统将足够紧凑，可以集成到船舶中，温室气体排放将被优化到接近零。虽然该项目旨在实现必要的技术飞跃，实现零排放，但它也将与海员应得的安全性，坚固性和可靠性以及大规模生产，供应链和有限的自然资源的现实相平衡。氨是一种天然的零碳能源，可以取代现有的化石燃料：它自然地消除了使用点的碳和硫排放，并克服了氢的严重物理密度限制。全球港口每年处理近20吨氨，其作为大宗商品的熟悉性使得能够进行调整和快速扩大以及部署安全运行和维护的加油基础设施。然而，氨并不直接用作燃料：其点燃时间长，火焰速度慢，因此在ICE中燃烧具有挑战性。涉及化石燃料先导燃料的早期解决方案显示出了希望，但仍会排放二氧化碳，因此距离净零排放还不够远。一个真正的零碳解决方案是将氨部分裂解成氨和氢的混合物，但目前可用的裂解解决方案对于船舶来说过于繁琐，并且产生的氢对于燃料电池来说不够纯。与内燃机系统的集成可以与裂解系统产生进一步的协同效应，提高系统效率。该项目将康明斯久经考验的世界级动力系统能力、Sunborne Systems的尖端裂解反应堆研究、设计和演示能力与Ocean Infinity阿尔马达船队提供的平台结合在一起。第一艘船已经下水，并将于2022年底开始海上试航。

The green shipping revolution is recognised to be a necessary and seismic change to the marine industry. This drive to make fundamental changes to the traditional methods of marine power has rightly been focussed on reduction in emissions and increases in efficiency. However, two centuries of fossil fuel-based marine power has made huge steps in safety, reliability and infrastructure and these must be translated into the world of green power.The project will conduct a feasibility study to provide the grounding for a fast-paced physical demonstration of partial cracking of ammonia into an (1.0MW) Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) in 2024, with a seagoing prototype by 2025\. This system will be compact enough for integration in a ship, and GHG emissions will be optimised to near zero. Whilst this project seeks to make the necessary technological leap to zero emissions, it will also balance this with the safety, robustness and reliability deserved by mariners, and the realities of mass production, supply chains and limited natural resources.Ammonia is a natural zero-carbon energy source for displacing current fossil fuels: it naturally eliminates carbon and sulphur emissions at point of use and overcomes the serious physical density limitations of hydrogen. With nearly 20MT of ammonia routinely handled in ports around the world annually, its familiarity as a bulk commodity allows for adaptation and rapid scale-up and deployment of bunkering infrastructure that is safe to operate and maintain.However, ammonia is not straightforward to use as a fuel: its long ignition time and slow flame speed make it challenging to burn in ICEs. Early solutions involving fossil-fuel pilot fuels show promise, but still emit CO2, and therefore are not going far enough toward net zero. A truly zero-carbon solution is to partially crack the ammonia into a blend of ammonia and hydrogen, but currently available cracking solutions are too cumbersome for ships, and the hydrogen created is not pure enough for fuel cells. Integration with an ICE system can create further synergies with the cracking system, giving more system efficiency.The project brings together the proven world-class power systems capabilities of Cummins, the cutting-edge cracking reactor research, design and demonstration abilities of Sunborne Systems with the platform provided by the Ocean Infinity ARMADA fleet which are designed and built with capacity for ammonia power from day one. The first vessel is already in the water and will begin sea trials in late 2022\.